Got my widow maker. Picts inside

[JackBlack26]

**EDIT**
Here is the first of 2 videos I shot today. Sorry, I didn't notice my finger was the the shot on the top right corner :P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0kbUc4gHWM

Better Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UkYONC_OhU

Like I mentioned in my other thread, I got it off eBay for around $90. The motor needed maintenance and the ESC had caught fire. There was a strand of wire from the windings that had come lose and was hitting the rotor and sparking. Don't know if this is what originally caused the stock ESC to blow, and why it ended up on eBay. But got that all cleared away and figured I would install a spare MM ESC with no water jacket and see what it would do. I was also surprised with the fact that my Flightmax soft packs fit perfectly!!! Got everything centered and the LiPo as far forward as possible. Threw it in my pool and ran it back and forth for a few minutes giving it fast bursts trying to get the ESC to heat up. My pool is big enough to get it to plane for a few seconds. The ESC was barely warm. I think it will do just fine for my budget boat for now. Taking it to the local pond tomorrow to test the ESC further and get it tuned


Next to its older sister

[tunnelvision]

Nice little addition to the addiction!!

[Diesel6401]

Their is a defect in the stock esc, I believe the lipo/nimh switch is the issue which leads to esc failures. Common find to see these boats as well as the SW26BL with esc failures since they share the same motor/esc combo. To be safe I would change that esc out if I were you for something known to work like hobbywing for example. JMO of course, Happy Boating!!!

[JackBlack26]

Thanks for the input Diesel! Its well appreciated. But unfortunately at this time I cant spare any more play money considering I bought both boats this month, and x-mas just around the corner. I will run it with the MM ESC and see how it does. If it heats up quickly out on the pond then it will get shelfed until I can get a marine ESC. When they come in stock, I'll order 2, 120A ESCs from Hobbycity. I'm sure the Ms. Geico one will eventually fail and I want to have a backup by that time, hopefully.

[Diesel6401]

Thanks for the input Diesel! Its well appreciated. But unfortunately at this time I cant spare any more play money considering I bought both boats this month, and x-mas just around the corner. I will run it with the MM ESC and see how it does. If it heats up quickly out on the pond then it will get shelfed until I can get a marine ESC. When they come in stock, I'll order 2, 120A ESCs from Hobbycity. I'm sure the Ms. Geico one will eventually fail and I want to have a backup by that time, hopefully.

Those are some Tough TOUGH esc's. With a few cheaps mods like swichting all the connectors over to 5.5mm bullets and disabling the bec that esc will last for a while. I'm pushing mine pretty hard in my MG and it's running like a champ. I think you will be surprised in the realiability of that esc.

[JackBlack26]

Really? I have a Medusa Research external BEC and Castle 5MM connectors in my parts bin. I'm assuming the 5MM connectors are for the motor to ESC, right? If so I will do that before my next run. Thanks so much for the input! I love the boat on 4S and do not plan on running a higher voltage. It's already a handful as is

[Diesel6401]

Really? I have a Medusa Research external BEC and Castle 5MM connectors in my parts bin. I'm assuming the 5MM connectors are for the motor to ESC, right? If so I will do that before my next run. Thanks so much for the input! I love the boat on 4S and do not plan on running a higher voltage. It's already a handful as is

Yup it's tough. I'm running it on a PB 1800kv on 4s right now, although I have run the stock motor/esc on 4s and 5s. If you look in my signature and click on the miss geico name it's a link for youtube and you can see the madien voyage. Yes on the connectors from the esc to the motor. Altough I do run 5.5 on the power side of the esc as well. I don't use deans plugs on my boats. Only 5.5mm on every connector for me.

[JackBlack26]

Thanks Diesel!

I posted a video of the Widowmaker in the top of the first post I'm uploading a second one, better one, right now. The boat rips very good! I don't mind it skipping one bit. Honestly, I feel like it makes you a better driver on the water and gives you more of a "feel" for the boat. I love it! And the Mamba Max ESC is barely warm to the touch with mo water through it. Ran 3 5K mah packs through it and not even 1 hick up. I'm stoked about this boat

[tunnelvision]

Nice Vid! Now I think I might get one of these of the bay'. Looked like some cavitation getting on plane, what prop you running? stock?

[JackBlack26]

Yeah that was with the stock prop, and yes it cavitated too much. But after the video it broke and I took the stock prop off my Apache before I left to the pond and threw it on the boat and it planed much quicker and seemed faster. It definitely kicked up a larger roost, that's for sure. I'm going to look for the metal equivalent of the stock Apache prop and run that. Seems to do much better than stock.

After reading the reviews on this boat I thought I had bought a dud....NOT!! After personally running it I'm double guessing why I bought the Ms Geico before I got this one in the mail. Honestly, if I had received this in the mail before "Black Friday" I would not of justified buying the MG. Not that it's a better boat than the MG but "I could of saved hundreds on my car insurance", lol! The MG sure is pretty to look at though and it's definitely staying in my stable

I highly recommend the Widowmaker if you can get one on eBay for under $100. Yes it needs a bit of tuning but what boat doesn't?

[tunnelvision]

I have been looking for a while and will definitely jump on one next time a good one comes up. Don't be second guessing yourself, the MG is awesome. It is a handful if your new to boats though.

The apache prop is a 34mm similar to the octura y534 plastic prop. I would go with a x435 or a grim 36x55. Not sure if any others would fit the bill. Maybe a x535? I had the shockwave 26 brushless (same power as widowmaker) for a bit and it rocked on a x435.

[JackBlack26]

So the Apache prop is different then right? Cause I definitely noticed a change with it. Thanks for the prop info. I'm not completely new to boats but props still confuse me because I have not played with them much. Mostly the pitch stuff and how it affects load. Dimensions I understand. But just like when I first came over to BL, I'll get the hand of it soon enough

[yellowbird]

Hi Jackblack

The Apache, Shockwave, Shockwave BL and Widowmaker all use the same standard plastic prop - it's 1.34" diameter x 2.06" pitch. These seem quite brittle and prone to losing blades, especially on the brushless boats.

Octura makes a similar plastic prop, the Y534 which is purple and seems a bit more durable. This is also 1.34" x 2.06" and can be picked up for <$2.00.

Because of complaints with the plastic props breaking, ProBoat has now brought out a stainless steel version of the stock Widowmaker prop (part # PRB0154) which you can pick up for $10. This will also give more speed and is a good budget upgrade for the WM. The prop is designed to be used as is, or could be balanced and sharpened as well for even more speed.

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products...ProdID=PRB0154

Octura makes a range of "copper" props which you can also buy for about $10 each, but these need to be balanced and sharpened which you can do yourself, or costs about $25 to have it done for you.

If you are sticking with a 2S battery pack and have a high current ESC, for ultimate performance you can use a larger diameter and higher pitch propeller - something like the Y535 which is 1.38" dia x 2.13" pitch or 3-blade M435 which is 1.38" dia X 1.93" pitch.

For the same diameter prop, a higher pitch means that the boat would be pushed further forward for each motor revolution, which means the motor has to do more work each time it turns - just like gears in a car, lower pitch is like lower gears - good for acceleration but not top speed.

If you were planning to run a 3S lipo pack the motor rpm would be much higher so you would want a smaller diameter, lower pitch prop that could spin quickly without bogging down the motor - something like the Octura X430 (1.18" dia x 1.65" pitch) or X432 (1.26" dia x 1.76" pitch).

-yellowbird

[JackBlack26]

Yellowbird, thanks for that explanation!! That completely explains what I was lacking in understanding regarding prop pitch. I like the idea of the stainless prop and have read on how to balance and sharpen them. I'll need to buy a prop balancer. I think I can tackle that my self. As far as polishing them, is that a necessity? I assume the smother the prop is the les friction it will make against the water, making it more efficient. Am I correct in assuming that?

[yellowbird]

Hi Jackblack

In the full sized engineering world some mechanical parts (e.g. engine and aerospace parts) are polished to improve their strength, by removing small surface imperfections that could grow into cracks and lead to fatigue failures.

Balancing metal model props certainly makes sense - the higher weight and stiffness vs plastic props can cause vibrations and lead to potential failures in couplings, flexshafts etc.

When it comes to polishing model props, I am a little skeptical of the true technical/ performance benefits; polished props look great but whether they are really any faster than balanced/ unpolished, I'm not so certain. One train of thought says that leaving the blades unpolished improves the "grip" of the propellor on the water!

The ProBoat stainless prop looks dull in its raw state but fantastic when polished - polishing certainly won't do any harm to the prop, but you do need to make sure you don't breathe in the metal dust. It also seems to be lighter and have thinner blades than my Octura copper prop, which is why it can be used without needing to be balanced further. I am using mine as it came out of the bag without any issues.

[JackBlack26]

Well, I ended up "ghetto cooling" the Mamba Max speed control and it dropped the temperature significantly. I'll going to coat it with "Liquid Electrical Tape" to prevent it from water damage. I also added the Grim 42x55 prop from my Nitro BJ26 to it and it rips!! I adjusted the strut and now it cavitates and takes longer to get on plane, but when it planes it runs smoother and more consistent with out hopping all over the place. I still think the turn fins do more harm then good but for now they'll stay. I'm really enjoying this little guy considering I can run about 10 minutes on 1 battery. I get bored before draining the 3, 2S LiPos I take with me to the pond. :P

[SweetZ28]

I see you angled the strut up... I have one i have trim tabs on mine it don't hop that much but it don't handle in the turns it seems to rock left and right sidways back and forth so you have to go slow in turns.... any way to get this thing to run faster and smoother through the turns?

[SweetZ28]

Here is mine i had to make my own hatch because i purchased it off this site in the for sale section and it did not have one and no stores had them in stock for months!!

[JackBlack26]

That hatch makes it look like an El Camino. Looks really cool!

I found that dropping the strut brace, where it attaches to the boat, all the way to the bottom and angling the strut as pictured tamed the boat down a lot. The down side is that it takes a bit longer to plane. Could also be because I'm running a bigger prop which possibly stick out of the water a bit more than the smaller stock one. The boat does tend to rock side to side a bit and I attribute this to the turn sins doing their job correcting it as it skips along at full throttle. I have no problem running it back and forth at full throttle or flipping it. Adjusting the strut the way like I did also makes it dig in more while turning at higher speeds, which allows you to stay on the throttle a bit more than right out the box. Play with the height and angle of the strut until you find the balance along with battery placement. It has a sweet spot, I promise. I found the one for mine :)

[SweetZ28]

when i got mine in the classified section the guy put trim tabs on the rear so i don't know if it's working better with them on or if it worked better in stock form?

I will test strut angle it may just be a good angle for you because of your prop.

I have a X435 i put on mine but i have to give it a test run to see how she goes.

[JackBlack26]

I would take the trim tabs off. This boat doesn't need them IMO. I will try the same strut brace/strut angles with the stock prop next time out and report any differences, if any.